What MPGs are you getting while towing?

[mgb1974]

18mpg Hiway cruising  about 70-80mph

2011 BMW X5 35d. Diesel

 

pulls my 21ft VLX great... don't laugh but I was pulling with a 2000 Astro AWD. That got 8mpg for my twice a year trips. Otherwise I dry dock 1 mile from the lake. X5 was a upgrade.

Edited September 10, 2017 by mgb1974

[RyanB]

On 8/8/2017 at 8:46 AM, stags79 said:

Yeah, I had a 2011 powestroke 250 loaner for a month while I waited for my 2017.  I put 2000 miles on it in 4 weeks and got at best 14 around town 18 highway with it.  I only towed the boat with if for a short trip so can't say much about that.  

But for the cost of the diesel would take a lot of miles before the cost of the motors and increased maintenance would break even.  I just don't put on enough highway miles or pull enough weigh to justify the cost.  

As for loss on resale I plan to keep this truck for 150000 miles so I'm hard pressed to use that as a justification for the extra cost.  I could have made it work but would have had to get a base trim truck, for me the cost was better spent on a lariat trim rather than a motor upgrade.

A 2012 + diesel 2500 (any brand) with 150000 miles on the clock will likely still sell for over $30k. That won't happen with a gasser. 

[surfdude]

Well, go buy a Ford Raptor. It would make the cut, less maintenance, prolly more other problems. Mileage is good when not towing, resale is great! Cheapest tow vehicle you can own in the long run. Plus funer than a barrel of monkeys for daily driving and off road.

Edited September 10, 2017 by surfdude

[G-Mack]

3 hours ago, mgb1974 said:

18mpg Hiway cruising  about 70-80mph

2011 BMW X5 35d. Diesel

 

pulls my 21ft VLX great... don't laugh but I was pulling with a 2000 Astro AWD. That got 8mpg for my twice a year trips. Otherwise I dry dock 1 mile from the lake. X5 was a upgrade.

Same range (18-20) with our 2015 Audi Q7 TDI pulling our 23LSV (approx. 6200lbs)..... through the mountains.... maybe not 80 mph though

[kylesullens]

2017 2500HD duramax.  1200 mile round trip to pick up the new boat.  Got 22mpg on the way down.  13mpg on the way back, towing at 70mph the whole way. 

About the same as towing my RV or equipment trailer. 

[spikew919]

PSA

 you guys try this for figuring real word mpg while towing. 

Hook boat to vehicle, drive to service station, top completely off with fuel, shake vehicle or whatever to get completely full, reset tripmeter, drive, as far as you want, over 50 miles preferably, pull into station with boat still in tow, top completely off with fuel. Now the gallons it took to fill up this time, of its 5 gallons, 2.3 or 20.9. Write that number down. Now get the number from tripmeter. Divide the tripmeter number by the gallons number you wrote down.  Then repost actual towing mpg. Never use the lie o meter. 

Some of these posted mpg while towing are better then the vehicle window stickers claimed city mpg.  

[dalt1]

2005 Nissan Titan with big tow package and 42,000 miles. I get 9 to 10 miles per gallon at 65 mph real world figured with calculator no Lie o meter in this old truck. 2012 VLX weighs 6,200 lbs on trailer full of gas and beer ready to drop in water.

Edited September 10, 2017 by dalt1

[nyryan2001]

My Toyota lie-o meter is pretty accurate.

within .2-.3 MPGs whether regular driving or towing 

[spikew919]

37 minutes ago, nyryan2001 said:

My Toyota lie-o meter is pretty accurate.

within .2-.3 MPGs whether regular driving or towing 

Mine is also but you have to reset it when you hook to trailer for it to be accurate over the next 50 or 100 or so miles. 

Edited September 10, 2017 by spikew919

[ahopkins22LSV]

2 hours ago, spikew919 said:

Mine is also but you have to reset it when you hook to trailer for it to be accurate over the next 50 or 100 or so miles. 

That's why I keep a lifetime odometer going and a per tank/trip odometer. 

[Tracktor]

On 6/11/2017 at 4:20 PM, Bawshogg said:

Towed my new boat home from Merced to Ridgefield , WA. back in April. Averaged 19.5 MPG on the way down and 14.5 on the way home towing 9400lbs.

2006 F-350 6.0l DRW 2wd of all things! They don't make them like they used to. ?

I get similar mileage out of my 05 Excursion 6.0. 3.5" lift & 35's with mild tune.  And I run the piss out of it so probably could do better without rodding it.  Gotta do headstuds at some point so can go a bit hotter..........

[BaBaLoO]

On 2017-09-09 at 9:23 PM, G-Mack said:

Same range (18-20) with our 2015 Audi Q7 TDI pulling our 23LSV (approx. 6200lbs)..... through the mountains.... maybe not 80 mph though

How do you like it the q7 tdi? Did you have to add air bags too it? Looking to get the wife a 15' or 16' with a towing package.  Want something that can pull the boat throughout the BC interior one or twice  a year  

 

Thanks

Rob. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by BaBaLoO

[gregtay]

4 minutes ago, BaBaLoO said:

Are you happy with out the Q7 tdi pulls your LSV? 

I towed our 08 23LSV with a TDI Q7 for years  (with the adaptive air susp) and it was great... towed over the mountains with no issues.  Super happy with how it towed, no issues at all. Highly recommend the adaptive air susp option for towing.

[BaBaLoO]

2 minutes ago, gregtay said:

I towed our 08 23LSV with a TDI Q7 for years  (with the adaptive air susp) and it was great... towed over the mountains with no issues.  Super happy with how it towed, no issues at all. Highly recommend the adaptive air susp option for towing.

Would that be included in the vorsrpung edition or did you add an aftermarket suspension?

[gregtay]

It is a separate optional susp package, not sure it is included with any trim level. Ours was a Prestige S-Line TDI and adaptive air 4 corner suspension was an option. You can not add it aftermarket.

[agarabaghi]

2017 Discovery First edition - comes with air suspension and 8300lbs towing

Got about 15mph towing at 70 with a mxz 22 

[NorNevRider]

2005 F250 with lots of quality mods on a 6.0. It gets 11.2 to 12.8. These are honest numbers calculated by miles and fuel consumption, not a computer. At this point I've stopped checking it. It really never has varied from this range.  I often tow a 12K fully loaded enclosed, 28 ft. loaded family unit, and I have yet to tow this boat.  I tend to just stay with the flow of traffic and on I50 or I80 that could be 60 to 80 MPH depending on traffic. I have no idea what the truck gets when I'm not towing or hauling and I can't recall the last time I drove it unloaded.

[G-Mack]

8 hours ago, BaBaLoO said:

How do you like it the q7 tdi? Did you have to add air bags too it? Looking to get the wife a 15' or 16' with a towing package.  Want something that can pull the boat throughout the BC interior one or twice  a year  

 

Thanks

Rob. 

It is awesome..... we replaced an escalade and my wife's assessment is it tows much better in the mountains. No loss of torque or power with the diesel. Rough guess the escalade was down about 30% through rogers pass. We did not get the air suspension, we do not need it, looks like a maintenance nightmare. The boat squats it a bit but very little and it pulls very stable. Don't have a good photo but it sits level with the boat on.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rEyh0h6xqKPWsaRA3

Look for one that has not had the emissions recall completed. The paperwork states 40% more DEF use and a loss of 1.6L/100 km and the previous owner can still claim the settlement and freeze you out. Mine will remain untouched.

 

 

[G-Mack]

8 hours ago, BaBaLoO said:

Would that be included in the vorsrpung edition or did you add an aftermarket suspension?

Not sure of the US option packages.  Canadian..... we have a Vorsprung, the air suspension was an added package ($3500) at all trim levels.

[Arctic Slalom]

2012 Chevy Suburban 4x4 5.3 liter, 6 speed tranny.  10-11 mpg going 65 max.  with a strong wind (like we get 1/2 the time in north dakota) it can drop down to 7 or 8. 

[MoogUK]

Range Rover sport 4x4 2013 with 8 speed auto 3.0 diesel twin turbo towing Axis A20 to our local lake at 60 / 65 mph around 22/23 mpg. Last year we did 480 miles in day to from Caen to Gastes south of France Atlantic side on some occasions seeing 70 / 75 mph and got 20 / 21 mpg. (Little wind bright and sunny) We've just upgraded to a Bu MLX (arrives from US to uk next week woohoo ! ) which adds around 350 KGS tow weight. Be interesting to see how the RR performs on MPG for the trip to our local lake and again in France this year. Though we're going a shorter distance approx 200 miles from northern Spain to Gastes this time I've a feeling roads won't be as good or flat as French tolls.  

[Nitrousbird]

I normally tow a lot of short distances.  Last fall we went to Norris Lake, first time towing long distance with my '07 Escalade EXT (6.2L, 403HP, AWD, 6-speed tranny).

Fuel mileage was unimpressive to say the least.  About 8.5 - 9MPG.  Pretty much exactly the same that I got out of my '02 Avalanche (5.3L, 4WD, 4-speed transmission but had 3.73 gears).  The Escalade had more power than the Avalanche for sure and handled the steep hills in TN/KY much better, but the fuel mileage was the same, though I didn't have to abuse it as much to keep 70ish MPH like I did with the Avalanche, so it was a bit more peaceful of a tow.  I still wasn't all that impressed and wanted more power.  I am guessing the boat/trailer with gear was around 5000lbs, 300lbs of lead in the truck + all our stuff, wife, daughter, dog, I was a little over 6000lbs - well under the limit.  

[electricjohn]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 9:40 AM, electricjohn said:

Over the 15 years and 200,000 miles of my 04 Nissan Titans life, my mileage fell from 12 to 11mpgs.  Same trip every year and up to 6 years ago, multiple times a summer. Still have truck.

Traded the Titan with 225K and went with a Tundra for the next 15 years. Kind of expecting the same towing mpg's.  So far the same towing a 4 place enclosed sled trailer thru the mountains.  Tundra seems to have a tad more grunt and a bit more stable.  Titan was still running great, but a slew of other things led me to trade.  Undercarriage rust was another big issue from the upstate NY winter salt. Tundra only has 2500 miles so far.

[Nitrousbird]

2 hours ago, electricjohn said:

Traded the Titan with 225K and went with a Tundra for the next 15 years. Kind of expecting the same towing mpg's.  So far the same towing a 4 place enclosed sled trailer thru the mountains.  Tundra seems to have a tad more grunt and a bit more stable.  Titan was still running great, but a slew of other things led me to trade.  Undercarriage rust was another big issue from the upstate NY winter salt. Tundra only has 2500 miles so far.

I would watch under carriage rust VERY closely on that Tundra.  Toyota has had history of frame rot on their trucks, including a couple recalls for it.  The rot problem is real and a genuine concern - I had a coworker with a Tacoma a good 10 years ago that had less miles/abuse than my Avalanche, yet I could easily push holes through the frame of that Tacoma where my Avalanche is rock solid to this day (friend bought it).  Tundras got hit with it too and Toyota was doing frame replacements.  The new models are too new to know if the problem will creep back or not.  

[electricjohn]

3 hours ago, Nitrousbird said:

I would watch under carriage rust VERY closely on that Tundra.  Toyota has had history of frame rot on their trucks, including a couple recalls for it.  The rot problem is real and a genuine concern - I had a coworker with a Tacoma a good 10 years ago that had less miles/abuse than my Avalanche, yet I could easily push holes through the frame of that Tacoma where my Avalanche is rock solid to this day (friend bought it).  Tundras got hit with it too and Toyota was doing frame replacements.  The new models are too new to know if the problem will creep back or not.  

There were a lot of frames behind the dealership waiting to go to the junkyard, both Taco's and Tundra's.  All from the previous generation.  I'm thinking and hoping Toyota learned a very expensive lesson designing this most recent generation, fingers crossed.  I spend a lot of time under my vehicles with a hose, being we do a lot of salty and sandy winter driving.